Archive for February, 2012

Just pretend for one moment that you have never heard of The Band. Erase all the history you have come to learn about them as a music fan, and entertain the idea that they never existed, just for one moment. Or, think back to the time when you first heard the name. What was your reaction to hearing about a band called The Band? For me, I think it was a mixed bag of “Wow, these guys are really lazy” and “Wow, these guys are really cocky.” The latter may have been true, but the former could not be further from it. If there was ever a band that deserved such a simple yet high-status moniker reflective of the indescribable hard work and marrying of minds required to bring the individual ideas of a bunch of people together into a tangible whole, it was these guys. (more…)

Joey Molland is to Badfinger what Mike Love is to the Beach Boys – he’s the band member who, in retrospect, stifled creativity in his misguided attempts to take the reigns as leader. I should probably note that if I come off as anti-Molland sometimes, it probably has to do with my one experience meeting the man. When Joey Molland’s Badfinger (yes, it’s a thing) came to play City Park in my hometown of Manhattan, KS, I brought my vinyl copy of Wish You Were Here along for him to sign. Even though I had just read Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger and was aware of all his misdeeds within the band, he was one of only two surviving members at the time (he’s the only one now), so I had to take advantage. However, when I gave him my record and told him to make it out to Cameron, I was livid when I later realized he had made it out to “Kenny”. Though it irked me for a while, over time I have come to appreciate it as living proof of Molland’s legendary arrogance. It was the perfect Joey Molland experience, one I am reminded of every time I bust out my copy of this record. (more…)

The whole point of rock and roll may be to have fun, but this pretense often overshadows the very real dangers of the music business. The majority of people who “make it” in the rock world are very young and that’s always been the norm, but there are several reasons for this. The obvious one, and the one most people think about, is the fact that the young and fresh-faced are generally the people others will pay the most money to see. Youth is an attractive force – when we are in our youth, we want to be around more of it; when we are old, we struggle to reclaim it. But there is a darker side to the allure of youth in rock. Without a good amount of dumb, young souls to mislead and misuse, many in the music business would have very limited resources. Badfinger (one of the best, most fucked-over bands in history) were exploited and flat out robbed from day one, and the main thing that kept them from doing anything about it was the same sort of blind trust that has always led young people into dangerous situations. (more…)

I have never been a huge fan of Bad Company, and I wasn’t really looking forward to listening to this record. As a result, I didn’t enjoy it very much. Funny how that works, isn’t it? I’m beginning to wonder why I even bothered to take it for free in the first place.

Apparently, Bad Company was a “supergroup”. (I want to make that joke – I really, really do – but we all know it.) They were made up of members of the bands Free (they had the hit “All Right Now” that’s always confused with “Free Ride”) and Mott the Hoople. This totally makes sense, since much of Bad Company’s output sounds like some second-rate, watered-down amalgam of those two bands. (more…)

I’m not going to pretend like I know who Edgard Varese is, but this quote, which was so carefully placed in the liner notes of countless Frank Zappa records, came to mind as I indulged in my first full-blown Burt Bacharach session. “Composer” is the only way to describe the man – he has a gift for being able to grasp those little snippets of melodic candidness that periodically float across the mind, and he always knows exactly what to do with them. This and his seemingly effortless knack for penning iconic melodies made Bacharach the go-to guy for soundtrack music back in the 60’s and 70’s, and almost anything in that era of the genre is either written by him or trying to emulate him. (more…)

Artful Dodger’s story is like that of so many other power pop bands – they made really good music, sometimes of the classic caliber, but their overall indistinctness kept them from ever catching the attention of the public eye. (more…)